Pushups, considered the ultimate body-weight exercise, target the chest, arms, triceps (back of upper arms), shoulders, back, neck, and abdominal muscles. An article, entitled “What Muscles do Push-Ups Work?” accessed from http://www.md-health.com/What-Muscles-Do-Push-Ups-Work.html and incorporated herein by reference, details the health benefits of pushups and the muscle groups worked. As explained in a New York Times article, entitled “An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Pushup” and incorporated herein by reference, “as a symbol of health and wellness, nothing surpasses the simple push-up.”
To many persons pushups are difficult to perform. Indeed, as stated in the New York Times article, “many people simply can't do push-ups.” To overcome this challenge, it is often recommended to place one's hands on a table, step, bed, or the like to elevate the torso. This becomes an incline pushup. While it is still working the muscles, it is easier on the person. The height of the furniture or step varies the degree of pushup muscle resistance. The taller the object, the less strenuous the pushup. Other persons, who may be more physically fit and want to increase the resistance and target specific muscles, may do decline pushups, with their feet higher than their heads and shoulders.
Using furniture, workout benches, and steps to increase or decrease pushup muscle resistance is not convenient. Nor does it easily allow for varying heights as strength increases. Further, it significantly limits where pushups can be performed. A number of apparatuses have been devised as improvements over using furniture, workout benches, and steps to increase or decrease the incline of a pushup and thus muscle resistance. Such apparatuses, however, typically take up a large amount of floor space, are inconvenient to use, offer only limited incline and decline options, are impractical to store, and do not allow for a natural pushup stance.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,666,640 and 4,358,106 are fixed height exercise stands. While such exercise stands may provide a stable base and a determined height, they do not allow for various incline and decline positions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,923,194, 6,129,651, 7,824,319, and 8,343,021 and U.S. Published Application Numbers 2009/0124471 and 2015/0072843 disclose apparatuses that include various mechanisms or structures that allow for incline pushups of various heights. Each, however, has drawbacks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,343,021 can only be used with stairs, must be configured to fit a specific distance between adjacent cove molds on the flight of stairs, and requires a user to orient their hands perpendicular to the stair rungs. The others offer only limited options of height adjustability to vary the incline or decline, and do not fold for convenient storage.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,290,209, 5,697,875, and 7,905,816 and U.S. Published Application Numbers 2008/0045390, 2013/0237394, and 2014/0296046 disclose apparatuses that allow for incline pushups of various heights that can also be collapsed to some extent for storage purposes. Each apparatus, however, has a significant footprint when not collapsed and thus requires an inconvenient amount of space in order to be used. Each also includes complex mechanisms that may make it difficult for a user, such as an elderly person, to setup or store the apparatus.
Therefore, a need remains for a pushup exercise system and apparatus that is compact, convenient to use, offers broad options for incline and decline pushup positions, and is easy to store when not in use.
While embodiments of pushup exercise systems and apparatuses are described herein by way of examples and embodiments, those skilled in the art recognize that pushup exercise systems and apparatuses are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described herein. The drawings and descriptions are not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Any headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used herein, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to) rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.